Text 6291, 142 rader
Skriven 2008-04-29 16:01:07 av Ruth Haffly (1:396/45.28)
   Kommentar till text 6180 av Janis Kracht (1:261/38)
Ärende: picnic                                                   [1]
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Hi Janis,

>> was more like beef a > roni sauce.
>> That's what Ron's mom used to do :) :)

 JK> > Did she ever change?  I don't know if my mom did or not, except
 JK> whenever > I was there to make meat balls.

 JK> No, she never did.. I think her English blood prevented that (bg)..

Then I can "blame" my mom's German blood? (G)

 JK> She was more of creamed onions, boiled meats, potatoes person..very
 JK> English..her maiden name was Weatherbee.. I always thought you could
 JK> barely get more English than that :)

What Ron experienced when you married him sounds about like the change
in eating I made when I married Steve.  My heritage is all German (mom
was a Kircher, dad is Weiss) so when I learned how to cook decent
Italian food.................. Of course I can do a pretty good job with
the German, and various other cultures as well.


 JK> > I'll probably fry this time.  When I bake them, I'll let them cool,
 JK> then > cover the cookie shets with plastic wrap & pop them into the

 JK> Over here, they go right in the sauce after draining on the paper
 JK> towels a bit.. then it's the fight to allow them to cook in the sauce
 JK> ("Hey, those aren't done enough to steal them yet!!" (g))

Have to stand over the sauce pot with a couple of wooden spoons--one for
stirring, the other for spanking hands that try to sneak a meat ball?


>> Sounds good.. Hope you can find it :)  Ask your butcher at the grocery
>> store if you don't see it on the shelves, that may help.

 JK> > The Fresh Market would probably be our best bet then. They have a
 JK> huge > meat counter area with butchers on hand to help. Very little
 JK> (if any, > actually) is pre wrapped.

 JK> I've found it here at the most unlikely places it seems.. the Giant
 JK> Market food store, etc.. You'd think Wegmen's would have such around
 JK> the holidays.. maybe they were just sold out though at the time I was
 JK> looking.

Could be; it's a cut that lends itself to lots of good eating.


 JK> > That's for the bracciole.

 JK> The bracciole would be a bit faster if you pound it to make it
 JK> thin..maybe outside time would be 40, 45 minutes if the meat is cut
 JK> thick compared to some .. I usually look for thin cuts though so I
 JK> figure 20 minutes.. depends on what you're able to find. As I said
 JK> though, we can watch it to see how it goes. 2-3 hours though is
 JK> extreme for any cut for bracciole .. but if you're simmering the sauce
 JK> that long, it should be fine really.  The real trick is in the simmer,
 JK> not letting it boil.  Sometimes I put the whole large pot of sauce in
 JK> one of my cast iron skillets to slow things down in the extreme ..
 JK> that does the trick (g).

What is size pot do you use?  For this one, I would probably use an 8
quart one to fit all the sauce and meat.  Do you want me to bring one or
what?

>> lasagne to sit for 15 minutes to let the cheeses set  before cutting.
>> So it's in the oven for about 50 minutes total, and sits for about

 JK> > I do it 30-45 minutes.  Thanks for reminding me about the "sit"
 JK> time; > it's another thing I want to try.

 JK> It allows the cheese to firm up.  If you don't do that, you get runny
 JK> lasagne.

That's generally why I've double baked mine.  Maybe if I let it stand
for a bit, I wouldn't have to. Something to think about.


>> freeze it, I'd probably freeze it before I cooked it (so it's only
>> getting cooked once?)... then bake it at 350 for an 1 hour - 1hour and
>> 1/2.. keeping my eye on it.. So maybe preheat it to 400F, put the

 JK> > I usually bake mine once, then freeze.  When I want to serve it,
 JK> I'll > thaw it, then bake again. I do it at 350F.  It seems to firm up
 JK> the
 JK> > cheese a bit if I double bake it.

 JK> Yes, it would.. because freezing removes some of the moisture.

Tho this one I probably won't freeze, just fridge.  Altho, it may be a
smart idea to make it the first day we're at my folks, freeze it and
then let it thaw in Windsor.


 JK> > Very true, but have to consider that some of them will be cooking
 JK> their > own things as well.

 JK> We should have plenty of room for that with the two kitchens.. :)
 JK> There's one microwave, 2 ranges.. two sinks... two tables/chairs, etc.
 JK> The "other" kitchen doesn't have much in the way of counter space
 JK> since the longest counter in that kitchen was originally on the wall
 JK> that we ripped out between the two kitchens. There  is some
 JK> counterspace remaining, but not very much... but I don't think we'll
 JK> run into very big problems though :)

Probably not, we didn't seem to have problems with that last year. I did
my peach cobbler about mid morning so it could sit & cool a bit while
others were cooking.  I'll have the lasagne made so won't need to spread
out to do that, just room for doing the meat alls and bracciole.


>> Yes, same as my Mom I'm afraid.. I'm still hoping she'll come for the
>> summer.. that was her plan this year, but we're not sure she'll be up
>> to it.. my daughter and her boys were really hoping she'd make it..
>> We'll see.

 JK> > I know, it's hard.  This country doens't have as good a national
 JK> > transportation system as most of those in Europe do.  It would make
 JK> > getting around a lot easier if there were one.

 JK> True.. then I'm not sure my mom would be up to it in any case.. She's
 JK> told me that she's gotten some new medication that's helping a lot so
 JK> that's a good sign, whether it will last is another thing..She's got
 JK> Fibromyalgia, and that's a painful one..


>> CONTINUED IN NEXT MESSAGE <<

Then maybe we will see her at the picnic? I've enough aches and pains
that I can sympathise with your mom.

---
Catch you later,
Ruth
rchaffly@earthlink.net  FIDO 1:396/45.28


... The first rule of intelligent tinkering:  Save all the parts!

--- PPoint 3.01
 * Origin: Sew! That's My Point (1:396/45.28)